(i) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to applicators of the kind comprising a handle member, a stem connected to the handle member via a hinge, and an applicator element disposed at one end of the stem.
(ii) Description of the Related Art
Such applicators, which are suitable for applying a cosmetic, are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,823.
Other applicators are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,328,282, US 2,173,959, US 4,396,028, US 5,435,328, FR 2,701,196, U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,755, FR 1,395,217, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,428,388, US 3,185,291, and US 4,370,989.
Numerous brushes are known that are formed by twisting together two branches of a metal wire in a helix about tufts of bristles that project radially from the core, the branches being fixed in a stem made of a plastics material and secured in a cap for closing a receptacle that contains the makeup to be applied.
The free ends of the bristles define an envelope surface, which surface may be of a wide variety of shapes.
Thus, French patent application FR-A-2,605,505 discloses a brush having a rectilinear core and presenting a plurality of side faces each of which presents an indentation extending over substantially the entire length of the brush, each indentation presenting in cross-section a profile that is outwardly concave. Between them such indentations define ridge zones. The axis of the core coincides with the axis of the stem. When makeup is being applied by means of such a brush, the brush is turned about the axis of the stem and the eyelashes come into contact successively with side faces that are all identical in shape.
European patent application EP-A-0,663,161 describes a brush having a rectilinear core, and outwardly concave indentations in its side faces. The edges of the indentations belong to an envelope surface that is generally in the form of two truncated cones united via their bases.
European patent application EP-A-0,792,603 discloses a brush having a rectilinear core and a cylindrical portion in which one or more indentations are formed of width that passes through a maximum on going along the axis of the brush.
French patent application FR-A-2,755,593 discloses a brush presenting a core that is not rectilinear, extending in a plane of curvature. Over at least a fraction of its length, the envelope surface of the brush presents a cross-section of a shape that is elongate along a major axis parallel to the plane of curvature. The two halves of the envelope surface of the brush situated on either side of the plane of curvature are symmetrical thereabout.
French patent applications FR-A-2,749,489 and FR-A-2,749,490 disclose other curved-core brushes. The cross-sections defined by the bristles of those brushes vary homothetically from one end of the brush to the other. In other words, if two cross-sections of the brush taken at two different locations along the length thereof are compared, then one of the cross-sections is an enlargement of the other, i.e. they are geometrically similar, and the ratio of the dimensions from one section to the other is the same regardless of the direction about the axis of the core, i.e. there is no relative twisting between sections. Each of those brushes is made from a blank having an envelope surface that is symmetrical about a midplane perpendicular to the core.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,870 describes a brush in which the cross-section defined by the bristles is elongate in shape over at least a fraction of its length. That brush presents an envelope surface presenting two halves that are symmetrical about the plane of the curvature of the core.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,138 describes a generally fish-shaped brush with a rectilinear core.
German patent application DE-A-4,205,935 describes a curved-core brush of cross-section that is constant and circular.
French patent application FR-A-2,798,276 describes a device comprising a curved-core brush whose free end does not lie in alignment with the stem, thus making it easier to pick up makeup. The cross-section of the brush varies monotonically from the end of the brush connected to the stem going towards its free end.